The Dragon's Scarf
by MerlinEmrys22
Summary: In which there is cats, OOC everyone, and a scarf-wearing dragon. Slight language.


**Update: I'm leaving this as a one-shot for now, because I've got writers' block with the next chapter and I don't know how to continue it. So, I hope you enjoy this little bit. :3**

* * *

**"**Merlin! Time to wake up, come on."

Merlin groaned. "I don't even want to go to stupid Camelot with its stupid castle and stupid king-"

"You're going there anyway, Gaius needs help and you need a job." his mother said, coming into his room to forcibly remove him from his bed.

"Fine. If I die on the way there, it's your fault."

Hunith simply tutted and left the room. Her son got up off the floor and started to dress, before going into the kitchen.

"Here's some bread, dear." Hunith said as he appeared, jet black hair messy.

"I hate bread." Merlin muttered under his breath, earning himself a wallop over the head with a broom.

The road to Camelot was long and boring, with no dragons or unicorns like his mother had promised there would be. At eighteen, Merlin suppose he should know by now that they didn't exist, but that's what magic does to you.

The castle was huge, white and tall. Flags bearing dragons fluttered in the wind.

"That's stupid," Merlin muttered to no-one in particular. "Magic's banned and there's a bloody dragon on his flag."

He walked on for a moment longer, before a terrifying noise rumbled through the air.

"No young man, no matter how great, can know his destiny."

"What was that?" Merlin cried, looking around. "I'm going to die!"

"He cannot glimpse his part in the great story that is about to unfold. Like everyone, he must live and learn. And so it shall be for the young warlock arriving at the gates of Camelot. A boy that will in time father a legend. His name... Merlin."

"I'm not going to father a legend! What do you know anyway, you.. voiceover!"

The first thing he saw entering the city was some bloke about to be killed, which was a happy sight to see.

"Let this serve as a lesson to all. This man, Thomas James Collins, is adjudged guilty of conspiring to use enchantments and magic and- pursuant to the laws of Camelot- I, Uther Pendragon-" Merlin assumed this was the king, though he actually had no idea, "- have decreed that such practices are banned on penalty of death."

Merlin swallowed. Stupid laws, why did he even come here? Oh yes. To help some guy his mum used to know.

"I pride myself as a fair and just king, but for the crime of sorcery there is but one sentence I can I came to this land, this kingdom was mired in chaos but, with the people's help, magic was driven from the realm. So I declare a festival to celebrate twenty years since the Great Dragon was captured and Camelot freed from the evil of sorcery. Let the celebrations begin!"

"Fat chance!" some idiot yelled from the crowd. "We're too poor to celebrate."

"Guards!" Uther yelled. "Kill him. Being poor is against Camelot's law of peasantry, section fifty-three thousand and three."

Merlin looked away as the guards dragged him into a corner, before someone screamed, a high-pitched noise that made Merlin cover his ears.

An old woman appeared, apparently the source of the scream, dressed all in pink and clutching a cat.

"There is only one evil in this land, but it is not magic. It is you! With your hatred and your ignorance! You took my son, and my last kitten Jeremy! But I promise you, before these celebrations are over, you will share my tears. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a son for a son, and most importantly a king for a cat! Go, kitty, do as I bid you!"

She chucked the cat towards the balcony, before disappearing in a puff of pink smoke. The cat simply landed and ran off, a little bell around its neck tinkling as the surprised crowd watched it.

Merlin raised his eyebrows, moving through the stunned crowd to get to the phyisician's chambers.

"Excuse me," he asked a bored-looking guard. "Is this Gaius' chambers?"

"Straight up and on your left," the guard said in a monotone.

"Uh, thanks."

The staircase was winding, and Merlin felt a little bit sick going round and round and round and round- thank goodness, a door.

He pushed it open, expecting a sterile room with perhaps a water fountain. Instead he saw a messy, dark room, with an old man standing precariously on a balcony.

He coughed, and the man turned around before falling. Merlin lazily chucked a bed in his direction, before the man landed on it.

He scrambled up, eyeing Merlin suspiciously. "What did you just do?"

Merlin scowled. "I used magic, and I didn't learn it anywhere before you ask. I was born with it."

Gaius looked slightly put out that he hadn't been able to be nosy. "I see. Who are you anyway?"

"Merlin. Hunith's son?"

"You weren't supposed to arrive until Wednesday!"

Merlin sighed. The old man was evidently bonkers. "It is Wednesday."


End file.
